Aiisha G. Herring has built a stellar career as a public servant with 23 years of experience working for the City of Philadelphia. During her municipal government career, Aiisha led various economic and community development initiatives designed to revitalize business districts, increase minority participation in contracting, and drive equitable employment in the skilled trades industry. As the Deputy Director for Business and Workforce Development in the City’s Capital Program’s Rebuild Initiative, Aiisha is responsible for leading a team to support small and local businesses on how to thoughtfully engage in the City of Philadelphia’s Procurement process. Additionally, she leads efforts to create and implement workforce programs to increase exposure of Philadelphia residents in the skilled trades. Under her leadership, over 200 businesses have received supports to build their overall capacity and over 150 Philadelphia residents, specifically people of color and women have successfully completed skilled trade pre-apprenticeship training with placement of over 75% construction or construction affiliated employment opportunities.
Prior to joining the Rebuild Initiative, she was the Senior Director in the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). In her role with OEO, Aiisha consulted with over 50 city departments and agencies to highlight the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in procurement and achieve the mandate of 35% city government contracting with minority, women, and disabled enterprises. Aiisha also spent 15 years with the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, where she managed a $38 endowment providing grants to small businesses to increase their business capacity, developed and implemented economic development programs to promote commercial corridor revitalization, and initiated programs to assist Philadelphia residents in their pursuit of higher education.
Aiisha sits on the boards of Mount Vernon Community Development Corporation, a community-based association focused on building affordable housing in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia, and Twelve Days of Christmas, an organization supporting families in the Philadelphia region. As a highly engaged parent of two sons, with one son being in his sophomore year at Lycoming College. She serves on the Shipley School’s Annual Fund. Aiisha earned a Master of Arts in Urban Studies from Temple University and is a proud graduate of Lincoln University, the first degree-granting HBCU in the United States. She also holds a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional credential through the Neighborhood Development Council.